"Your first "point" is [patently false. There is nothing other than money preventing anyone from starting a rival D1 Men's Pro Soccer League." Except, ofc, for the Div 1 PLS sanctioning which is curated to MLS, contains provisions for market size and owner net-worth, that happen to only fit MLS and not USL, and least withstanding, the idea that USSF which is under full MLS regulatory capture, would sanction another Division 1 soccer league. Lets see, Colorado Switchbacks are only 500k people away from that...same with El Paso, Hartford etc... 40m to be able to run a team, huh? Thats odd. Almost like running a soccer team doesnt cost nearly that much, nor do most USL owners have that money? What happened to there is nothing stopping anyone from getting Div 1 sanctioning? Except, ofc, reality. And ofc youd have to get past the pro council...which MLS happens to have a supermajority of. Bottom Line: USSF, American soccer's governing body, who regulates our ecosystem and has the power (through its ability to sanction divisions) to pick winners and losers in the marketplace, & practically controlled by MLS, institutes anti-competitive policy to protect MLS.
". League stadiums must meet the following parameters: 1. All stadiums/arenas must be enclosed. 2. All league stadiums must have a minimum seating capacity of 15,000" Oh and I forgot! Min 15k stadium capacity.... There is nothing stopping anyone though right? Except for literally multiple things. Mind you many EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga, and some of the biggest clubs in the world don't meet these requirements... Like the current Bundesliga champions. Leverkusen with a population of 163k...
We're at that old joke where we've established what the leagues are and we're just arguing over price, right? Because again, nobody is throwing a fit over the various teams (most recently Gateshead) who run into problems when they're promoted and get threatened with being blocked from promotion unless they make stadium and other upgrades in the so-called "open" systems in Europe, but when MLS does it we hear "cartel" and "anti-competitive". Which means people aren't actually pissed off by the fact that those type of rules exist, they're just pissed off at whatever level MLS has set those rules at. If you can't afford it, its not MLS's job to bring the price down.